JRLC 5580/7580 Magazine Writing

Fall 2016

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45pm

242 Journalism

Instructor: David Welch Suggs, Jr., Ph.D.

wsuggs@uga.edu

706.363.0752

@welchsuggs (snap/insta/twit)

http://facebook.com/profwelchsuggs

Office: 228 Journalism

Office hours: 11am-12pm and 2-3pm Tuesday-Thursday, or by appointment

Introduction:

This is class on reporting and writing. Specifically, it is on reporting and writing feature stories, as opposed to hard news. You will learn how a story is made from the first passing thought in a writer’s head to the editing and finished product. You will learn this by doing it. You will have a beat that you will cover throughout the semester, and you will interview the real people engaged in the world that your beat will cover and develop stories from what you hear from them. What you write will appear on a class blog, and if all goes well your best work will be published on campus or elsewhere. Who knows? You might even be able to sell some of it.

In short, you will learn to find good stories and tell them.

Along the way, you will learn what feature writing is all about by reading the best work of professional writers, talking to a few who will join us as guest speakers, and studying current trends in journalism and nonfiction. A newspaper publisher announced recently that journalism was moving in two directions: toward long-form and toward Twitter. I don’t think that’s entirely true, but it is certainly true that good writing beyond 140 characters is flourishing in many venues.

Learning objectives:

• Portfolio: You will design and publish a professional web portfolio introducing yourself to the professional world, highlighting your work and skills both in this class and in general.
• Research: You will be able to identify and gather the most salient background information available on a specific topic, including web publications, social media, previously-published stories, and books. You also will engage in the community that cares about this topic via social media and commenting on other stories to better understand what you’re studying.
• Beat: You will cover a beat by identifying people engaged with a particular issue or activity on both a local and national basis, developing relationships with them, and reporting stories of significance from your interactions with them.
• Budgets and planning: You will be able to take a brief assignment and develop a strategy for reporting and writing it, and you will be able to execute that strategy to meet a specific deadline.
• Multimedia conceptualization: You will develop the ability to identify stories that lend themselves to different kind of presentations, including photos, audio, video and infographics. You will learn to produce and critique such stories and learn how to decide which medium best suits which stories.
• Interviewing: You will be able to contact a variety of individuals and conduct interviews with them to learn about a specific story or issue, to persist if you can’t reach them at first, and to have backup interview plans developed in enough time to complete an assignment. You also will be able to record, transcribe, and organize notes to be useful to you as you write.
• Story structure: You will be able to take your background and reporting notes and use them to develop compelling feature stories, generally between 750 and 1,500 words. You will be able to write strong ledes, clearly-organized bodies, and compelling kickers, using quotes and background information to keep a reader engaged throughout the story.
• Editing: You will be able to review and critique both your own work and that of your peers at the level of copyediting (microediting) and content editing (macroediting), showing that you can assess grammar, word choice, sentence and paragraph structure, and story organization.

Required resources and equipment:

• Associated Press stylebook, which you should have from JOUR3410, or (preferred) subscription to the online stylebook
• Textbooks: Available from the bookstore or Amazon. Fine to rent or to rent as e-books, but if your career aspirations include any kind of writing, I’d suggest buying your own. I still use all of these.
• Bell, Susan. The Artful Edit.
• Blaine, Mark. The Digital Reporter’s Notebook.
• Clark, Roy Peter. Writing Tools.
• The Sunday Long Read: Please subscribe to this excellent list of longform feature stories, curated by an ESPN senior writer. There are a few specific assignments during the semester involving them, but mostly this is a feast for you to read every week because you’ll enjoy them.
• Poynter Language Primer: You’ll have to pay $12.95 for this. Instructions will be coming to your uga.edu email address from newsu.org.
• Bring Your Own Technology: Per journalism department guidelines, students should bring to class every day a laptop that can access the Internet and perform at least basic multimedia editing.
• A still/video camera and an audio recorder that allow you to capture and send files in digital format.
• We’ll be doing some assignments using Dropbox Paper. Look out for an invitation in your uga.edu email.

Topics and schedule: see the Modules pages elsewhere on this site. Grades and assignments:

A detailed list is available [here] but below are summaries of major assignments and grade categories. Note that all assignments are due by 11:59pm on the date listed on the modules pages. 12:00am the next day is late. If you miss deadline, you get a get a minimum of half off the assignment. No exceptions, unless you provide documented proof of a major medical or other emergency. Problems with technology or other equipment do not constitute excusable emergencies. If we are working on a tight deadline, you are responsible for testing your equipment ahead of the deadline.

• Homework (16 points in total): Small blog posts and other assignments as listed on the modules page.
• Participation (15 points): engagement with me and your peers in the learning process
• Portfolio (5 points): The journalism department requires students to produce portfolio web pages showcasing their work. You will design this as your professional presence on the web, but for the purposes of this course you also will use it as an information site for your blog posts and other material related to your beat. You are strongly encouraged to add materials to an existing portfolio you created for a previous class. Note: I would like you to use WordPress to create your portfolio page, not Wix or Weebly or other sites. WordPress proficiency has become the coin of the realm in media circles, and employers look more favorably upon WordPress portfolios than those built with other platforms.
• Budget (5) points: Two ideas for each of the below stories written up in paragraph form with details on background, sourcing, and questions to explore. More details in class.
• Poynter tests (10 points): To brush up on your command of language basics, you’ll be completing the Poynter Institute’s Online Language Primer: Basics of Grammar, Punctuation and Word Use. To get the 10 points, you must pass each of the three tests with a minimum score of 80%. You get three chances at each test.
• Stories: You will complete four stories over the course of the term, working closely with your instructor and your peers each step of the way. Each story will consist of three stages
  • Reporting package (3 points each): Transcripts of all interviews and background research (old stories, reports, social media). You must conduct a minimum of five interviews in person or over the phone for each story, though in some cases you can use the same interview for more than one story.
  • Rough draft: Not a fragmentary draft, but a complete draft ready for editing.
  • Final draft: Ready for publication.
  • The stories will be as follows:
    • Profile (750 words) (10 points): These stories either shed light on who someone is or, if they are well-known, shine a light on something little known about them that is integral to their life or career story. Like all other stories, profiles must clearly establish timeliness (why now?) and significance (why should we care?). Look for storylines that present a conflict or journey in the person’s life. The profile will be workshopped extensively in class.
    • Trend story (1,000 words) (10 points): These stories examine changes, events or issues that can be traced to a common cause. The best trend stories describe the trend and its scope, quantifying it if possible. They also explore the causes and/or consequences. The stories include specific examples of the trend. The examples should demonstrate that it is indeed a trend and not simply an isolated change, event or issue. The best entry into a trend story (read: the best lede) often focuses on a person, scene or situation involved in or affected by the trend. The story then broadens to other people or situations to show that this is indeed a trend. Trend stories should quote at least one expert who is neutral yet knowledgeable about the trend. This helps give the story context and credibility.
    • Pick-em (1,200 words) (15 points): A feature story that takes one of the other approaches we’ll discuss: Behind the numbers, behind the scenes, insider explanatory/analysis, life off the field, localizer, lookback, off the beaten path, big-picture preview, that was then/this is now.
    • Multimedia (10 points): this project must tell a story in itself. It is not an ornament for your written stories (though they may cover the same subjects or complement those stories as a package), but instead must combine written and multimedia elements to present a story compellingly. You have your choice of producing a package of photographs, an audio story, or an infographic. It will be graded based on the quality of storytelling, effective use of text (captions, graphics, etc.), and clean presentation.
• Graduate assignment: Graduate students will be required to complete an additional research project in which they pick specific issues or controversies in their beats and analyze how the media have covered it. This project will be worth 15 percent of your grade, with other assignments adjusted accordingly. I will discuss the specific requirements of the assignment with you individually.

Extra credit: There will be opportunities available throughout the semester, but the key one is participating in the Grady College Research Participation Pool. You can receive one point of credit on your final grade for each study in which you participate, up to three. Ask me or Dr. Wojdynski (bartw@uga.edu) if you have any questions.

Disability policy:

The University of Georgia is committed to providing equal educational opportunities for qualified students with disabilities in accordance with state and federal laws including the American Disabilities Act. Help for disabled students is available from the Disability Resource Center. More information is available at www.dissvcs.uga.edu. If you have a particular issue that needs to be accommodated, please share it with me as early as possible in the semester.

Academic honesty:

As a University of Georgia student, you have agreed to abide by the University’s academic honesty policy, “A Culture of Honesty,” and the Student Honor Code. All academic work must meet the standards described in “A Culture of Honesty” found here. Lack of knowledge of the academic honesty policy is not a reasonable explanation for a violation. Questions related to course assignments and the academic honesty policy should be directed to the instructor.

General guidelines:

• All assignments and exercises are to be turned in by the designated deadline, unless I announce otherwise. If you miss deadline, you get a get a minimum of half off the assignment. No exceptions, unless you provide documented proof of a major medical or other emergency. Problems with technology or other equipment do not constitute excusable emergencies. If we are working on a tight deadline, you are responsible for testing your equipment ahead of the deadline.
• Your assignments must be written to the assigned length. I will deduct 10% from the assignment grade for stories that are more than 10% shorter or longer than the assigned length.
• Your assignments must conform to AP style and the rules of proper grammar. If you have more than five style and/or grammar errors in one assignment, I will deduct 10% from your assignment grade.
• You must avoid factual errors, including misspelled names. The first one you make will automatically reduce your assignment grade by half. Any others, throughout the duration of the semester, will result in a grade of zero for the assignment.
• For every assignment, you must provide the contact information (email address and/or phone number) for each of your sources by the assignment deadline. You can attach the contact information to the assignment. Failure to do so will result in an automatic 10% deduction in your assignment grade.
• You must turn off your cell phones at the start of every class. Any exceptions must be approved by me. If your phone rings, buzzes or pings during class, it will count against your grade.
• We will be working with social media and visiting web sites as part of our class work and discussion. But if you are online for personal reasons during class, you will be assessed an absence for that class.
• You are allowed three unchallenged absences during the semester. Any absences beyond the three each will affect your participation grade. If you have a major medical or other emergency that results in more than three absences, you must provide documentation. In general, I would classify a major emergency as something that keeps you out of all your UGA classes and activities for more than a week. I only want documentation for major emergencies. If you have a medical or other situation that keeps you out of class for just a day, that day will count against your unchallenged absences. I do not want documentation in those instances. You can check your attendance here.
• Being late counts as being absent.
• Because you are covering beats in this class, you are allowed to miss class to conduct an interview or attend a media availability for class purposes, if you notify me at least 24 hours in advance. These absences will not count against your three unchallenged absences. However, if you do not provide 24-hour advance notice and/or I find out there was no media availability or interview – I will be spot-checking – I will deduct three points from your class grade for the absence. For other absences, you must notify me at least 10 minutes before the start of class that you will be absent.
• Be aware that any form of plagiarism will trigger harsh consequences, possibly including a failing grade for the class and expulsion from the University. If you are unclear on what constitutes plagiarism, please check with me.